Vilnius receives a new rating from the Financial Times - the best city business development agency, helping to increase the city's attractiveness for investors, was announced by the Vilnius city tourism and business agency "Go Vilnius". This comes after fDi Intelligence, the investment expert arm of the Financial Times, announced the winners in its annual awards fDI Strategy Awards.
Inga Romanovskienė, director of Go Vilnius, says that this is not only an assessment of the agency, but also of the entire city and the different organizations and businesses operating in it, confirming that Vilnius is increasingly successfully competing with other European and global cities. “In order for a city to compete as effectively as possible by attracting foreign investments, it is important to know a clear direction and listen to the needs of various industries, and cooperation between various organizations in consistently achieving common goals is also particularly important,” - says I. Romanovskienė.
According to her, the strategy of refining and strengthening the most important industries, such as financial technologies, lasers, service centers, etc., has been particularly successful in increasing Vilnius' competitiveness. Organizations such as the Foreign Direct Investment Development Agency "Invest in Lithuania", the startup ecosystem taking care of "Startup Lithuania" or those seeking to improve the capital's connectivity with the world's major cities Lithuanian airportsAt that time, the main goals of the agency "Go Vilnius" were to increase the international awareness of Vilnius by presenting the city's advantages, and by being closest to businesses or talents already operating in Vilnius, listening to their needs and solving any issues that arose.
"In order to successfully compete with other European cities, we must be proactive and act creatively and effectively - we think about what is relevant for foreign companies and specialists, what kind of help and attention they need most. For example, we created the "Workation Vilnius" program, when foreign companies can "try out" work and leisure here. This program, which has already been implemented twice, helps to widely spread the word about Vilnius' attractiveness to the business community. The digital tool "Relocation Guide" and the "Welcome to Vilnius" seminars, during which you can consult with experts from different state institutions, help foreign specialists settle in faster and more smoothly," says I. Romanovskienė.
Vilnius has received various international awards in recent years – it won the Financial Times Return on Investment Award, was ranked among the top ten cities attracting fintech startups, and became the best city in the world for attracting technology startups. The city’s investment strategy was also evaluated by the Emerging Europe organization, and last week, the analytical company Findexables included Vilnius in the top ten most attractive European cities for fintech companies.
The fDi Strategy Awards are presented based on the information provided by various global agencies during 2019 on the actions of cities and countries to increase their attractiveness to investors. The full list of awardees can be found here. here.